You won’t be Frazzled after Ruby’s new show

Ruby Wax says she is having more fun with her latest show than she has ever had.

And audience members in Blackpool will get to join in the fun themselves when Ruby brings her one woman touring show, Frazzled, to the Grand Theatre this Thursday night.

The comedienne and actress first came to the attention of British TV audiences in the 1980s when she appeared in comedy sitcom Girls on Top and later as a brash interviewer in The Full Wax.

Often playing on the persona of a brash New Yorker in little old Britain, some may have assumed that this image was the sum of her talents.

But there is much more to Ruby Wax than such assumptions.

Before even becoming known on TV, she was a talented straight actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in productions such as Measure for measure and Love’s Labour’s Lost.

At the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield she enjoyed a writing and directing partnership with celebrated stage and screen actor, Alan Rickman.

In fact a quick glance at her CV tells of a versatile and intelligent writer and performer, keen to keep pushing her own boundaries.

In recent years she has added another dimension to her work - as a mental health campaigner able to speak from personal experience and write authoritatively on the subject.

And this brings us to latest show Frazzled - subtitled a Guide to Mindfulness.

The acclaimed show, based on her hit book of a similar name, has been described by some as a therapy session with lots of laughs.

And Ruby, who has suffered from depression and now lectures on mental health issues and is keen to tackle the stigma associated with it, doesn’t disagree.

She said: “It beats 500 years of straight therapy!

“But the main thing is that it is played for laughs and it is funny. It is not po-faced, it is a real comedy.

“I love meeting people and in the second half the audience do some of the talking - and talk to each other.

“This is the best, most fun show I have ever done, I love doing this, it is a joy and I am the happiest I have been in my career because I can make a connection with the world - and the connection is good.”

Ruby has been to Blackpool before but jokes: “That was about 100 years ago, I’m sure it’s been re-decorated since,”

The show is a balance between education and humour, with lots of funny, personal anecdotes.

And because it is aimed at making people feel better than they felt before they came in, Ruby’s happy to share the joy.

It begins at 7.30pm.

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